


Whiskey Confessions

by Melonrinds



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Drunken Confessions, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-02-04
Packaged: 2018-01-11 03:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1167910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melonrinds/pseuds/Melonrinds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A drunk Winry tries to deal with her feelings on Edward leaving for the West.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Few Too Many

She hadn’t meant to get this drunk. 

Yes, the plan for her seventeenth birthday was to go to the neighbourhood pub and have a few celebratory drinks with her friends.  But Winry had hoped that the alcohol would only do so much as to leave her giggling, dancing, and having fun.  Instead she currently found herself cradling a toilet on the floor of the bar’s dirty bathroom with a spinning head full of regret. 

For starters, she had not expected so many people, both her friends and strangers, to buy her drinks.  Maybe accepting all of them hadn’t been the best choice, but at the time Winry had told herself that refusing them would be rude.  The truth however, was that she had honestly been enjoying the effects of the drinks immensely, and once the awful taste started to become unnoticeable, there was nothing to stop her.  The other truth was that maybe she had been feeling a little sadder than she should have at the start of her birthday party, and the drinks were doing a great job of cheering her up.

Until suddenly her spinning head started making her feel sick instead of giddy and she almost threw up right there on the bar table when another shot someone bought her was placed in front of her.  She could only stare at it while everyone chanted for her to drink it.

That’s when Edward Elric had shouted over the cheers that she had had enough, and downed the shot himself before she could so much as reach out for it.

After that she had excused herself to go to the bathroom, and had miraculously managed to stumble there without falling over once.  That was when her stomach had decided it had had enough.

Winry groaned as her stomach heaved again.  Her forehead was sweaty, and her hair was falling out of its ponytail.  She could barely see strait and she was pretty sure there was vomit in her hair.  She was a mess.

Breathing in slowly and deeply, Winry fell backwards into a seating position with her back leaning against the door.  She held her forehead in her hands and closed her eyes, trying to make the spinning sensation go away.

She wanted to go home, but her stomach dropped when she thought about what her grandmother might say if she saw her stumbling home like this and suddenly sleeping on the bathroom floor tonight didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all.  Tears started to form in her eyes as she thought of home and all of the reasons that had convinced her it was a good idea to keep drinking came flooding back. 

Home.  Alphonse had already left home a month ago so that he could travel to Xing.  And Ed...  Ed had told her he was going to be leaving soon too.  When the boys had finally come home two years ago she had stupidly thought that was it - that they would be home with her for good now. 

She should have known better, she thought as she angrily wiped a tear from her eye.  She would always have to wait for them, be worried about them, and be clueless to when she would get to see them again.  When Al had gone though, it had been okay.  Yes she had been sad the day he left, but Ed was still there.  Dealing with Ed leaving again had been a lot harder than her, and Winry wondered if Ed even realised the effect he had on her.

Swallowing, Winry reached out and fingered the diamond on the end of the silver necklace around her neck.  Ed had given it to her only a few hours before.  Winry wouldn’t have thought anything of it normally – he had given her jewelry before (her various earrings) and thanks to his stint at the military he wasn’t exactly poor.  It was how nervous he had looked when giving it to her that made her question his reasons for the gift. 

But if he did care about her like that why would he leave again without so much as a hesitation?

“Winry?  Is there a Winry in here?”

Winry jumped slightly at the sound of her name.  She didn’t recognize the voice and the abrasive sound made her head pound.  As she heard her name shouted again she managed a weak, “Yeah?”

“A blond guy outside just asked me to look for you in here,” the girl said to her.  “Friend of yours or should I tell him to fuck off?”

“Long hair?” Winry asked quietly.  “In a ponytail?”  _Ed_.

“Yeah, that’s the guy.”  Winry heard the girl’s footsteps coming towards her and she tried to stand up.

“He’s a friend,” Winry said, fumbling with the lock on the stall door.  The girl caught her on the other side as Winry stumbled out.

“You okay?” Winry had no idea who this girl was, but she looked concerned nonetheless.

Winry only managed to shake her head in response.

“He’s okay to take you home?”

Winry nodded.

As the girl lead her to the exit Winry suddenly realised what was more terrifying than having her grandmother see her like this: having Edward she her like this.  Upon realising this she wanted nothing more than to pull herself out of this girl’s arms and crawl back into her stall, but she didn’t have the energy.  Not to mention not being able to stand up straight by herself; the heels weren’t helping.         

The bathroom door opened and sure enough, there was Edward waiting for her on the other side.  His face swam before her eyes and Winry looked down at her feet.  The floor was easier to face right now.

“Here she is,” Winry heard the girl say.  “She’s not doing so good.  You take her home and don’t try anything funny yeah?”

“What kind of person do I look like to you?” Edward sounded angry.  His raised voice made Winry’s head pound and she groaned.

Winry felt the girl leave her side and she swayed on the spot.  She grabbed onto Edward’s arm to keep herself from falling and he helped her steady herself.

“You okay, Winry?” Edward didn’t sound angry anymore, he sounded concerned and Winry was horrified at the fact that she suddenly felt like bursting into tears.

She swallowed and forced herself to hold back the tears though she shook her head at him.  “No,” she said meekly.  “I want to go home. Can we go home?  Please?”

“Yeah, we can go home,” Edward said.  “Can you walk?”

“I dunno,” Winry mumbled into his arm.  She felt Edward slide his arm out of her grasp and move it tightly around her waist.  His grip was strong and he kept her close as the two made their way through the thick crowd to the bar’s exit.  The loud music was making her head throb and the dancing bodies around her were making Winry feel dizzy and sick again.  Another wave of nausea washed over her and she started breathing in deeply again hoping it would pass.

Edward must have noticed, because he suddenly said, “If you’re going to puke again, can it wait until we get outside?”  Winry thought he sounded amused, and she was too tired and drunk to feel angry about it.

“How do you know I already puked?”

“I can smell it on you,” Edward said.  “You’re kind of a mess right now.”  And she heard him laugh.

“It’s not funny!” she groaned into his side.

“It kind of is,” Edward said.  He was brave when he knew she didn’t have the energy to fight back she thought bitterly. 

The two of them pushed through the door and the cool air from outside made Winry suddenly feel a lot better.  But before Winry could savor it she remembered.  “My purse!  I left it inside the pub!”

“Relax, I’ll go back and find it,” Edward said to her.  “Here, just sit here on these steps and I’ll be right back.  Don’t move!”

Like she could even if she wanted to, thought Winry.  She sat down on the cement stairs and as Edward hurried back inside she took her heels off and placed them on the ground next to her.  The grass felt good between her bare toes.

The relief she felt from the cool air was short lived as another wave of nausea washed over Winry.  She dreaded the walk back home, and hoped Edward would get back soon.

xxx

Edward found the purse right where Winry had left it: on the bench the two of them had been sitting in.  A few of their friends were still sitting around the table, drunkenly talking and laughing.  Isaac saw him approach and asked about Winry, but Edward just said she was tired and wanted to go home.  He didn’t really feel like explaining Winry’s condition to any of the people here, though he figured they could guess pretty easily.

He pushed his way impatiently through the thick crowd of drunks, hoping Winry had listened to him and stayed put.  He was slightly worried about the logistics of getting home with her, given that she didn’t seem to be quite capable of walking by herself.  In Central it would have been easy to call a cab, but they weren’t exactly easy to come by in Resembool.  He wished Al was here to help him.

Edward mentally started kicking himself for not paying attention to how many drinks Winry had taken.  She had never gotten drunk before; she wouldn’t have known her limit.  Edward also didn’t have much experience around drunk people before.  Winry had seemed fine earlier.  She had been more talkative than usual, if that were possible, and more giggly than usual... And when she talked to him she had gotten closer to his face than usual, though Edward had convinced himself it was because the music was too loud to hear her otherwise.  It was when she had started going quiet and stared at that last shot like he stared at milk he figured it was probably for the best that she’d stopped.

Probably a few drinks too late, Edward thought at he pushed the door to the pub open again.  He was relieved to see her in the same place he’d left her though she was puking again.  Edward exhaled deeply before walking over to her and sitting down on the step next to her.

“Don’t make fun of me,” Winry said when she could.  “I don’t feel well.”

Edward laughed before he could help himself.  “Yeah, like if it were me getting piss drunk you wouldn’t be making fun of me.”

“Shut up!”

“I didn’t even say anything!”

“Yeah, but I know you want to.”

Edward snorted.  “Come on.  I have to somehow take your drunk ass home.  Do you think that’s going to be easy?  I should be allowed to try and make the best of this situation.”

Winry groaned.  “This is so embarrassing.  Does anyone else know?” she asked, referring to their friends back inside.

“I said you were tired.”

Now it was Winry’s turn to laugh.  “Yeah, like they’re going to believe that.”

“Are you feeling any better?” Edward asked.

Winry nodded.  “I’m cold though.”  She started to shiver.

Edward didn’t remember her bringing a jacket.  He pulled off the white hoodie he was wearing and put it around her shoulders.  “No puking on it though, okay?”

Winry hiccupped.  “Okay,” she said, though Edward didn’t believe her.

Edward stood up and held out his hand.  “Come on.  We’ve got a bit of a walk.”

Winry was still unsteady on her feet, so Edward quickly gave up on trying to help her walk and hoisted her up onto his back while he held onto her legs.  He felt her head slump against his shoulder.

“Winry?” he asked.  “Don’t pass out on me.”

“Mmmm,” was all Winry mumbled.

Edward shook his head and began walking.  The trip from the pub to their house was about a 20 minute walk, if one was sober and wasn’t carrying anyone else on their back.  At least it was mostly flat until the last leg.

Winry stayed quiet through most of the journey, until they got to the bottom on the hill that would take them up to the house.  Edward’s right arm was starting to ache and he was just contemplating taking a short break when he heard Winry mutter his name so quietly that if her mouth was not right next to his ear he wouldn’t have heard her.

“You okay?” Ed asked, hoping she wasn’t going to puke again.

“Ed,” she repeated, a little louder this time.  “Why do you have to leave me again?”

Her voice cracked in a way that was all too familiar to him and Edward froze.  Yup, this was a good time for a break.

He let her down gently on the short wall that ran along the path and sat down next to her.  “I’m not leaving you,” he said quietly.

He heard Winry sniff next to him and he felt his stomach drop.  “Then what are you doing?”

“Research in the west,” Ed replied.  “It has nothing to do with you.”

“Oh.  Okay.” Winry said.  Ed grit his teeth and held his hands together so tightly his knuckles were white.  He didn’t want to have this conversation.  Especially not when Winry was drunk out of her mind.  He didn’t even know if she’d remember any of this in the morning.

“You’re a selfish dick,” Winry suddenly snapped.

“What?!” Ed found himself suddenly on his feet.  The anger surged up in him and all of his previous uncomfort came out in rage.  “Are you fucking serious?!  After everything I’ve done for you – for Al – - for fucking carrying you all night to your goddamn house - everything – you have the fucking nerve to call me that?!!”

And then Winry started bawling and Edward’s anger faded away into nothing. 

“Y – y- you just tell me you’re leaving with no idea when you’ll get b-back a week before you go?  You say it like it’s not a b-big deal?!  Am I n-nothing to you?!  Do my feelings count for n-nothing?!!  Why do I bother waiting when it’s n-never going to end?!!!”

Edward just stood there stunned. Winry glared at him through red eyes.

“You’re drunk,” he said finally.  “Come on, let’s go and get you to bed.”

But Winry refused to move and before Edward had time to process what was going on he was sitting back down next to her and holding her in his arms while she sobbed into his chest.

No words of comfort were coming to his mind and Edward could feel himself start to panic. 

“You’re not nothing to me,” Ed said quietly after a long silence.  “Al left me to go to Xing.  You think he stopped caring about me?  It doesn’t work like that.”

“I know,” Winry said to his chest.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  I don’t know why I said that.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes.  Winry’s sobs had calmed down a lot, though with a heavy heart Edward could still tell she was crying. 

“I’ll be back soon,” he said finally, his chin resting on her head.  “I promise.”

“Ha!” he heard Winry’s muffled laugh.  “Like I’m going to believe that.”

“A month,” said Ed.  “I’ll be back to visit in a month.  I promise.”

But Winry was still crying.  Ed hugged her tighter.  “Winry please stop it.  You’re killing me.  You weren’t like this when Al left.”

He suddenly felt Winry trying to pull away.  He let go and was face with the glare of her bright blue eyes, filled with tears.  “Al?  Why would I be like this with Al?”  She looked angry again, but there was more to her expression than that.  Frustration?  Fear?  And then she said something Edward didn’t think either of them expected.

“I’m in love with _you_ , you idiot!”

Winry looked nothing short of horrified.  Her eyes went wide, her jaw dropped, and she looked like she might be sick again.  She looked like Edward felt.  He found he could do nothing but stare.

“I am really drunk,” Winry said, finally breaking the silence.  “I want to go home.”  

Edward could feel his cheeks burning and it took him a second to respond.

“Yeah, okay.  Hop back on.”

Nothing was said between them for the rest of the walk.

All the lights were off when they got home.  Edward was thankful that Pinako was asleep.  All that was left to do was get Winry up to her bed.  He kicked off his shoes and carried Winry up the stairs as quietly as he could.  She had fallen asleep he realised when he sat down on her bed and let her off his back.  He lay her down and carefully pulled her blanket over her.  She was still wearing his jacket.

Edward exhaled sharply and looked away from her.  He sat there for a few seconds, his mind racing with thoughts about what had just happened at the bottom of the hill.  He couldn’t take it anymore.

“Winry?” he asked quietly.

He got no response, and that gave him the go ahead.  “I love you too,” he mumbled quickly.  “And leaving you is going to be really, really, really fucking hard for me.  It’s the reason I’ve waited so long to leave.  And I want to come back and spend the rest of my life with you.  I just have to do this first.  And I’m so scared you won’t wait for me again.”

Edward paused to breathe.  He glanced back at Winry, who gave no sign she had heard any of that.  “I will try and tell you when you’re awake and sober before I leave,” he whispered.  He got up off the bed and headed to the door.  When he moved his hand to the door he realized he was shaking.

When he got to his empty room he slumped down onto his own bed and slammed a fist into the mattress.  He had two years to say something.  He’d hoped a deadline would help him own up to his feelings but he had a feeling he was more hopeless than that. 


	2. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had originally intended for this fic to be a oneshot, but it didn't quite work out that way. Here is the second and last part!

The sun had just barely begun to rise when Winry woke up from her drunken slumber.  Bright light streamed in through the open window and she groaned and rolled away from it onto her side.

There was no sugar coating it: she felt like shit - worse than last night, if that was possible.  She smelled like sweat and vomit.  Her throat was raw and sore, and her mouth was very dry.  Her head ached and her stomach couldn’t decide if it was hungry or sick.

As Winry gingerly lifted herself up off of her side, she noticed she was still wearing her tight, black dress from last night and Edward’s white sweatshirt was still around her.  She openly cringed as the events started coming back to her.  She had honestly been counting on the fact that she would have forgotten everything that had happened after she had stumbled into the bathroom.  Wasn’t that what was supposed to happen when one got really drunk to the point of puking and then confessing ones undying love to Edward Elric!?

But no, she could only wish she could be so lucky. She remembered everything.  Her cheerful drunkenness when she couldn’t keep her hands off of Edward – though at least she had only focused on his thighs and shoulders.  Getting too close to his face when talking to him – the music wasn’t loud enough to justify it.  His face had been a blonde blur, but he laughed and joked along with her, and he didn’t seem to mind how touchy-feely she had become.

And then of course he just had to see her stumble out of the bathroom, vomit in the grass in front of the pub, cry her eyes out _again_ in front of him, and carry her passed out self home.

Winry buried her face in her hands.  This was mortifying.  She could never face him again.

Continuing to sit in bed with nothing to do was not going to make Winry forget last night easily, so despite how awful she was feeling, she forced herself out of bed with the intention of taking a shower.

She grabbed a fresh pair of pajamas – she didn’t see herself leaving her room for the remainder of the day and she might as well be comfy – and then slipped out towards the bathroom as quietly as she could.

She assured herself that Edward would still be asleep.  He tended to get up later than she did normally, and this was even early for her.  Winry was pretty confident she could successfully avoid him for the rest of the week until he left.  He was probably just as eager to do the same thing.  The thought made Winry both relieved and sad.  Mainly the latter.  She shook her head though it made it hurt, and undressed.

The warm shower felt good on her skin.  She stood underneath the water long after she had scrubbed herself clean.  The heat was making it easier to forget about her body’s pain and her mind went numb, focusing only on what she felt on her skin.  It was over too quickly.

She still felt sick to her stomach, but at the same time she had a strong craving for something fatty – maybe bacon and fried eggs?  No.  As she thought about breakfast, her stomach heaved and Winry decided not to risk anyway.

After toweling off her hair, Winry dressed in her pajamas and crawled back into her bed.  She wrapped Edward’s sweatshirt around herself again and closed her eyes, hoping she could just fall back asleep, though given how she was feeling she figured she was being too optimistic.

xxx

Edward didn’t sleep well that night.  His sheets were a mess from all of the tossing and turning.  He was exhausted.  He had no idea what time him and Winry had even made it home last night, just that it didn’t seem that long ago at all and the sun was already rising.

Though no matter how bad he felt right now, he knew Winry would be feeling worse.  With a jolt in his stomach, he wondered if Winry remembered anything that was said after they had left the pub.

_“I love **you** , you idiot!”_

As nervous as he felt when he remembered that moment, and despite how much it annoyed him to be called an idiot, hearing those words did make him happier than he would like to admit.  Edward was cautious though.  He didn’t know how much of that was Winry being honest, or Winry just being really drunk.  The tears were real enough.

Edward groaned and ran his hand over his face.  He could just try to avoid her for the rest of the week.  It was all too tempting.  But he knew that he would lose Winry forever if it came to that.  Edward hoped she could make the first move.  He didn’t trust himself to.

Lying in bed was making Edward antsy.  There was no more hope of getting any sleep.  Defeated, Edward hopped out and quickly changed.  He hoped he could distract himself with breakfast.

Pinako was already in the kitchen when he arrived.

“Well good morning,” she said in the tone that Edward knew meant she was about to question him.  “And how’re you feeling?”

Edward rolled his eyes.  “I’m feeling just fine, granny.  Do I _look_ hungover to you?”

Pinako smirked.  “Honestly yes.  You look like you haven’t gotten much sleep.  The party must have been quite good, huh?  I didn’t hear you two come home last night.  You were out quite late.” 

“No need to worry about me, granny,” Edward said grinning and grabbing a piece of toast.  “It turns out your granddaughter is the one you have to watch out for.”

Granny looked up from the toaster at him, amused, “Ha!  Good one, Ed.”

“Yeah, yeah... but seriously she got pretty hammered.”

He watched Pinako raise a curious eyebrow at him. 

“I got her home in one piece.  Don’t worry.”

Pinako shook her head, “If she’s anything like her father she’s going to have one hell of a morning.”

“Anything we can make her to help?” Edward asked.

“Something greasy,” Pinako answered.  “But I wouldn’t make anything yet.  Wait until she gets down here.”

_Wait._   Edward couldn’t wait.  He needed to see her, though he wasn’t sure what he would do or say when he did.

“I saw the necklace you gave her,” Pinako said, tearing Edward away from his thoughts.  “It was very nice, Ed.”

Edward coughed and looked down at his toast, wishing she couldn’t see how red his face had gone.

Pinako cackled and turned to leave the kitchen.  “I’m going out to pick up a few things.  Remember: something greasy, lots of water and salt, and try not to make her angry about anything.”

“Just go already!” Edward fumed.

Pinako left, and Edward was all too aware that he and Winry were now alone in the house.  He didn’t know how long he sat in the kitchen, he just knew that the waiting was driving him insane.  He couldn’t stand just sitting there doing nothing, waiting, wondering what was going to happen when he saw Winry again.  But he couldn’t bring himself to go upstairs and see her either.  So there he sat, doing nothing, his stomach in knots, trying to finish his toast.

She came down after what felt like an hour, long after Edward had given up on his toast.  He attempted to distract himself with book on the West instead.

He heard the shuffling feet on the stairs before she came in, but didn’t look up from his book until he heard her speak.

“Hey, Ed.”

When he finally looked up, he felt his stomach clench uncomfortably.  She still looked completely under the weather, but was also somehow annoyingly beautiful.  He noticed that she had pulled his sweatshirt over her pajamas and decided that she could keep it if she wanted.

“Hey, Winry.  Feeling better?” he teased, and he grinned that cocky grin he felt comfortable doing.  He knew this would annoy her, and an annoyed Winry was a Winry he could deal with.

“Shut up,” she said, but to Edward’s dismay she didn’t sound annoyed.  She slumped down in a chair and buried her face in her arms.  Edward bit his lip, thinking she was going to cry again, but then she said, “I want eggs.  And bacon.”

Edward remembered what granny had said about greasy food.  “Yeah?  And why are you telling me?  You expect me to make it for you or something?  Carrying you home wasn’t enough?”

“Yes please,” Winry said with her face still buried into her arms.  “Jerk.”

Edward laughed.  “Fine.  I see how it is.”

Winry didn’t move as he busied himself with the cooking, and when he finally placed her plate in front of her, she didn’t look up at him.  She seemed a lot more interested in the eggs.  _Did she remember anything from last night?!  And if she didn’t, was he going to be an idiot and blurt it out to remind her?_

Edward swallowed.  “Hey, uh, so I guess you’re feeling a lot better huh?”

Winry finally looked up at him with those bright blue eyes.  “Yeah,” she nodded.  “But that’s not saying much.   I still feel awful.  You have no idea.  You’re lucky all the guys weren’t buying _you_ drinks too.”

Edward chuckled.  “I don’t think I could afford to get that drunk anyway,” he said.  “It’s not like you would be able to carry me home.  I’d be stuck sleeping on the bathroom floor of the pub,” he grinned.

Winry grimaced.  “That floor was so gross.”  She pushed away the rest of her breakfast.  “Thanks for the eggs, Ed,” she said sincerely.  “And for carrying me home.”

“Y – you’re welcome.”   

Winry smiled.  “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“With pie?” Edward asked.

Winry laughed.  “I can do that.  Maybe not today though.  I’m surprised I managed to make it down the stairs.”

“What did you want to do today?” Edward questioned.

Winry looked at him tiredly.  “I was just going to sleep all day.”

“Oh,” Edward said trying not to sound too disappointed.  He wasn’t sure what he had wanted her to say, but he had hoped the two of them could hang out together today.  Maybe eventually he would get the courage to say what was on his mind.  Maybe he needed a few drinks first.

“Come up with me,” Winry said suddenly.  “I could use some company.”

Edward felt the blood rush to his face.  “O-okay.”

Winry then stood up and Ed turned away from her while putting away the dishes.  He ran the hot water over them as Winry waited, gritting his teeth while doing so, trying to decide if he should bring it up or not.

When he turned around and saw Winry standing next to the table, in pajama bottoms that just barely counted as shorts and a tight tank top that did not cover her whole stomach, he knew that their platonic friendship was over.  He could deal with a frustratingly sexy Winry around him all the time. He couldn’t deal with it if she told him she was in love with him, drunk or not.

But he couldn’t say anything, so he finished cleaning up and simply followed Winry upstairs to her room.

xxx

Winry tried to figure out how she had gone from wanting to avoid Edward for the rest of the week to inviting him up to her room.  He hadn’t said anything to her about what she had told him last night, and she hadn’t expected him to, but he was more subdued than usual, and she had never seen him turn so red when asking him to hang out with her in her room.  Winry couldn’t decide if it was a good thing or not.

“Did you tell grandma?” she asked when the two of them sat down on her bed.

“’Course.  For once, I’m not the one who fucked up,” Edward said.  Winry glared and then smacked him on the arm with her pillow.

“Laugh it up, Ed!”  And he was laughing, hard.

For some reason, Edward laughing right now was making her feel sad again.  She was really going to miss this.  Even him making fun of her.  Winry bit her lip.  Edward wasn’t going to say anything.  If she wanted anything from last night to be resolved, she had to start it herself.

“Ed,” she said, and it came out quieter than she intended.  “I – uh – I wanted to – um... last night,” she could feel her face growing hot, “last night I think I remember saying something – and I don’t want you to take it the wrong way or anything, but – uh...” _Shit._ She couldn’t do this.She was rambling and probably making this worse.  Edward was just kind of staring at her with his mouth slightly open.  Winry was about to give up before she suddenly felt Edward pull her into a tight hug.

“ Edward - !?”

“Please don’t cry again, I love you too.”

Well _that_ was unexpected.  Winry found herself at a loss for words, but she wrapped her arms around his in return. The two stayed silent like that for a few minutes; Winry could only hear Edward’s beating heart.  Finally, Edward added, “Please tell me you remember what happened last night otherwise this is really awkward.”

Winry almost laughed.  “It’s already awkward!  You always make things more awkward than they need to be!” Winry said and took a took a deep breath before adding, “But yes, I remember everything!”

Edward pulled back slightly, but his hands remained on her waist.  He looked outraged.  “You could have said something!”

“Oh come on!  _You’re_ one to talk!  You never tell me anything!”

“Maybe if I was piss drunk I would!”

“Then why don’t I buy you a drink!”

Edward stared at her for a second.  And then he burst out laughing.  And then Winry couldn’t help herself.  She started laughing so hard she was in tears.  The two of them were both laughing harder than the situation really called for and Winry wasn’t sure why.

Winry said, “God, what is wrong with us?” Winry said, when she finally regained some composure.  She guessed the answer. Laughing came easier than admitting feelings.  Laughing also made it harder to dissolve back into tears, and at least she was expressing something.

Still very aware of the hands holding her waist, Winry stared at Edward’s chest and absentmindedly traced the top of his jeans.  “So what now?”

“I dunno,” Edward said quickly. 

“I’m going to miss you a lot,” Winry said to his chest.  “There are probably going to be nights when I’m going to be really sad about it and cry.”

Edward took his hands off her waist and moved back slightly.  “Winry, why are you telling me this?”

“I dunno,” Winry said truthfully.  “I just want you to know that this really sucks for me.”  She hesitated for a second before she added, “And I can’t wait around forever.  I _won’t_ wait around forever.”

She finally looked up into his eyes and she could tell that last sentence had killed him a little.  But he nodded.  “I understand.  But – but you won’t.  I promise.  Winry, I swear – I...”  He was at a loss for words again.  “Please – please wait.  Just a little bit longer.  I – I don’t know what I’d do without you – do – do you want me to stay?  I’ll stay.”

“No.  No!” he looked so sad that Winry couldn’t help but wrap her arms around him again.  Looking straight into his eyes, she said, “Go.  Don’t stay for my sake.  You’ve been so excited about this, I couldn’t forgive myself if you stayed just for me and missed out on the West.  But don’t take two years for God’s sakes!  And maybe call sometime!  Or at least send a letter!  But preferably both.  And – “

And then Edward closed the gap between their lips.  Her eyes widened and her heart raced madly.  After a few seconds he pulled back and the two of them stared at each other, breathless.

“I will,” he said.  “I promise.”

And then Winry practically tackled him into the bed as she returned the kiss.  It was sloppy at first.  Edward seemed almost afraid to use his tongue and Winry realised this must have been his first time.  But she found she didn’t care.  Edward got the hang of it quickly enough and soon his hands were in her hair, and he was moaning and he rolled her over so that he could be on top.

His weight felt amazing on her and Winry’s hands couldn’t decide where they wanted to touch him.  Why had they waited for so long to do this?!

When the two finally paused for some air, their arms were around each other so tightly it was as if they were afraid of the other leaving at that very moment.

“I’m an idiot.” Edward finally said.

“I knew that already,” Winry smirked.  “But why do you mention it now?”

“Hey!  B-because, we could have done this a lot sooner.  And now I’m leaving in a week.”

“Such an idiot.”  But she grinned and kissed him on the cheek. 

“Yeah, yeah.  Feeling better?”

“Yeah,” Winry smiled. 

“Me too,” he said and he kissed her forehead.

Winry suddenly became aware of the tears on her cheeks and, surprised, she wondered when they had started.  Of course Edward had to notice.  He always had to get so worried about it.

“Tears of joy?  Or sadness?”

“Both,” Winry replied honestly.  “When you get back it’ll just be joy.  I promise.”

She saw Edward try to smile and when he couldn’t she leaned over again for another kiss.  This one was a lot less urgent than before.  It was soft and sweet.  She could feel the tears continue to fall.  When the kiss ended the two of them lay next to each other on the bed, her head resting on his chest.  There were no more words the two could to say to each other right now.  Edward was leaving in a week; nothing was going to change that.  But Winry had something real to look forward to when he came back. 

Winry closed her eyes and managed a smile through her tears.  All that mattered was that the two of them were together now.  Edward might leave for a bit, but and one day soon he would come home, and the waiting would be over.


End file.
